While it may sound like
a script from a Sci-Fi movie, researchers from Tokyo's Riken
research institute insist the strategy could easily be introduced
in real-life. The proposed method is outlined in
theirpaper, published in Acta
Astronautica.

According to the researchers, pieces of debris could be found up
to 62 miles (100 kilometers) away, using the Extreme Universe
Space Observatory's (EUSO) super-wide-field telescope – which is
already mounted to Japan's Kibo Experiment Module on the ISS.

Pulses from the laser (which is not yet mounted on the ISS) would
then reduce the velocity of space junk, pushing it into Earth's
atmosphere where it would burn up. The laser would create the
pulses by using bundles of optical fibers capable of both high
power and high frequency.

By using the capabilities of both instruments, space debris could
be reduced to just 0.4 inches (one centimeter).

The masterminds of the strategy intend to launch a small
experiment on the ISS, using an eight-inch (20 cm) version of the
EUSO telescope and a laser with 100 fibers.

“If that goes well, we plan to install a full-scale version
on the ISS, incorporating a three-meter [10ft] telescope and a
laser with 10,000 fibers, giving it the ability to deorbit debris
with a range of approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles),”
said lead researcher Dr. Toshikazu Ebisuzaki.

But Ebisuzaki's ambitions don't stop there.

“Looking further to the future, we could create a free-flyer
mission and put it into a polar orbit at an altitude near 800
kilometers, where the greatest concentration of debris is
found,” he said.

The lead researcher went on to express full confidence in the
concept, stating his team's proposal is more manageable than the
ground-based, conventional approach.

He added that it is accurate, cheap, and fast – and that the
system could eliminate most centimeter-sized debris within the
first five years of operation.

Although Ebisuzaki and the other researchers are undeniably
excited about the EUSO telescope's potential to fight space junk,
the device was originally developed for an entirely different
reason – to detect ultraviolet light from air showers produced by
cosmic rays.

Meanwhile, the fiber-powered laser was developed to power
particle accelerators.

It is accumulating at a constant rate. In fact, the amount of
space debris nearly doubled from 2000 to 2014. NASA estimates the
total mass of space junk to be around 3,000 tons.

According to NASA's website, the “rising population of space
debris increases the potential danger to all space vehicles, but
especially to the International Space Station, space shuttles and
other spacecraft with humans aboard.”

However, Ebisuzaki is optimistic that his team's method may
finally be able to “stop the headache of rapidly growing
space debris that endangers space activities.”